Real Bread Campaign

Real Bread logo

Real Bread Maker Week

11 - 17 May 2013

Help us raise dough to do good!

Want a delicious, all-natural, genuinely fresh local loaf of Real Bread? Then it's time to give some love to the Real Bread makers

  • on your high street,
  • in the back of your kitchen cupboard and
  • at the ends of your sleeves
You'll also be helping our charity ensure we can run our new therapeutic bread making project with people in Britain who have a tougher time than most of us.

#RealBread is on the rise!

Online auction
LIMITED EDITION Real Bread t-shirts
WIN: a £150 Bakery Bits voucher!
WIN: a Doves Farm Real Bread Campaign Bundle!
Events and activities near you
Join the Campaign and get discounts on bread making classes
Donate

 

See also

What is Real Bread Maker Week?

Launched by the Real Bread Campaign in 2009, Real Bread Maker Week is Britain’s biggest annual, national celebration of Real Bread and its makers.

Its aim is to encourage people to get baking Real Bread or buying it from independent bakeries to support their local communities.

This year, as well as raising awareness for Real Bread, we knead your help raising cash.

The Real Bread Campaign has great new plans to help people who, for one reason or another, have a tougher time than most of us enjoy the social, therapeutic and employment opportunities Real Bread making offers, but we need the dough to do it!

Can we count on your support?

Good.

See also: What is Real Bread?

National Bread Week

We've been unable to find out who's behind National Bread Week in April or their aims. Still, it's a great opportunity to bake a loaf, take a Real Bread making class or support your local independent Real Bread bakery to get warmed up for Real Bread Maker Week.

British Sandwich Week

‘The people of Britain need to be reminded that bread isn’t just something to keep your fingers dry when eating a sandwich.’ Andrew Wheeler, Eat Britain! 101 Great British Tastes

We love a good sandwich, us! Of course the fundamental prerequisite for a good sandwich is Real Bread An unusual filling is all well and good but if the slices betwixt it lies are laced with artificial additives, well...

The choice of Real Bread is up to you, be it white, wholemeal, granary or whatever takes your fancy; leavened with commercial yeast or sourdough starter; and baked by a professional or at home in the oven or bread machine.

It's time to seize sandwich supremacy by keeping it REAL!

Get involved

Real Bread Maker Week is all about YOU supporting YOUR local Real Bread Makers!

Celebrating Real Bread

Here are three ways you can kick the industrial loaf habit:

Raising dough

How will YOU be helping people to celebrate Real Bread Maker Week this year?

Whether you're a professional or amateur baker (or even a non-baker), there are plenty of ways to help other people in your local community enoy Real Bread and raise cash for the Campaign at the same time. Here are just a few ideas of events and activities.

You could organise a Real Bread:

  • lunchbox masterclass to share all the great Real Bread alternatives to soggy factory loaf sarnies with parents at a local school
  • tasting dinner or pizza night – perhaps in association with a local pub or eatery
  • beginners’ workshop
  • afternoon tea or elevenses
  • tea and toast breakfast
  • club event to bring friends colleagues and neighbours
  • together to bake
  • quiz night

The more the merrier

Perhaps you could involve a community group such as your local:

  • WI group
  • Scouts or Guides
  • Work colleagues
  • School
  • Farmers' market
  • Country Market
  • Community shop
  • Sharing network
  • Slow Food group

For further inspiration, have a look at what people got up to during Real Bread Maker Week 2010 and 2011.

If you are planning an event, please add details to our events calendar NOW!

Join the conversation

Whatever you do during the week, be that raising money for the Campaign, helping to spread the word about the rise of Real Bread locally, supporting your local, independent Real Bread bakery by buying a a loaf, teaching someone else to bake or simply making a loaf at home, please share the details!

Out in the virtual world, everyone can join the conversation on Facebook and Campaign members can chat with each other in The Real Baker-e.  The hashtag to use on Twitter is #RealBread and on Wednesday 15 May from 8-9pm UK time, #breadchat will allow you to hook up with bread lovers around the globe.

FREE Real Bread Maker Week guide

Want more ideas for Real Bread Maker Week events, activities and fundraising?

Look no further than our FREE (though donations are very welcome!) short guide, which contains:

  • Ideas for Real Bread Maker Week events and activities
  • Making your event/activity a success
  • Practical and legal bits
  • Money, money, money
  • Poster templates
  • Labels for collection tins

We have published two versions of this guide: click on the link below for more infomation and to download your PDF copy.

Real Bread Maker Week guide for professional bakers
Real Bread Maker Week guide for homebakers

Inspiration for your event/activity

Here are just some of the people who've let us know what they're doing in Real Bread Maker Week. Perhaps something here will make you think 'aha - now that's something I could do, too!'

  • Cinnamon Square in Rickmansworth are running a children's bread making workshop and donating all proceeds to the Campaign.
  • Bread Matters are donating £4 for every new starter kit they sell, and running a fundraising raffle at a special dinner they're holding in conjunction with Café St Honoré.
  • Bread At Home will be taking Real Bread to sell at work donating 50p per loaf to the Campaign
  • Leicester Born and Bread is donating 10% of all sales during Real Bread Maker Week to the Campaign.
  • Joe's Bakery in Bristol is launching a new 'National Loaf' made from organic stoneground wholemeal and white flour and donating 50p from each one sold to the Campaign.
  • Hopes of Longtown is holding a bread competition (#HopesBreadComp) on 11 May
  • Real Slow Bread "Thanks to the campaign for all the support and advice it has provided, without which Real Slow Bread would certainly not be up and running.   I've decided to send 10% of my sales this week as a thank you."
  • Artisan Foodworks Donating £5 for each class booked during Real Bread Maker Week to the Campaign.
  • Love Bread's new Community Supported Bakery bakehouse will be opened officially by the Mayor of Calderdale (okay, so perhaps there won't be many of you can follow suit on this one; well, not this week, at least...)

For details of these and many, many more, please visit our calendar.

Events

To find or add details of local Real Bread Maker Week activities, please visit our events calendar

When you join in the fun, please share your #realbread news and stories on Twitter

You can also post photos and tales on the Real Bread Campaign Facebook wall.

Online auction

Hurry: ends TODAY!

From 11-17 May we’re holding an online auction of six fantastic lots kindly donated by the following lovely people:

Bread Matters: One day Real Bread masterclass with Campaign co-founder and author of Bread Matters, Andrew Whitley.
BID NOW!

Hobbs House Bakery: One day Real Bread masterclass with Fabulous Baker Brother Tom Herbert at Hobbs House Bakery’s new cookery school.
BID NOW!

Marriage’s: Three 16kg bags of flour (Chelmer White, Wholemeal Dark Rye and Wholemeal Spelt) ideal for the enthusiastic amateur or skilled professional Real Bread baker.
BID NOW!

The Phoenix Bakery: One day Real Bread masterclass with regular River Cottage tutor Aidan Chapman at his own bakery.
BID NOW!

The School of Artisan Food: One day Real Bread masterclass with How to Bake Bread author Emmanuel Hadjiandreou.
BID NOW!

Shipton Mill: ‘Meet the Miller'. An unique personal tour of Shipton Mill with owner John Lister to see stone flour milling in action.
BID NOW!

Find full details for each lot at the auction site.

Hurry - the auction runs for 7 days ONLY from 11 May
 

LIMITED EDITION Real Bread charity t-shirts

On sale NOW!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


The very nice people at Balcony Shirts have created an exclusive range of limited edition t-shirts especially for Real Bread Maker Week.

The shirts are available in male, female and child styles and, being very nice people, Balcony Shirts will donate £4 to the Campaign (£3 child sizes) for every one of these sold.

The shirts are priced at £12.50 (adult sizes) and £10 (child sizes) plus p&p

So you can be all togged up and ready to roll for Real Bread Maker Week, you can buy your shirt NOW only from balconyshirts.co.uk

WIN £150 to spend on baking goodies!

We need your help to get everyone in the twitterverse and beyond supporting the Campaign buy buying their own Real Bread t-shirts.

Simply take a photo of you wearing yours in the most unusual place you can think of* and tweet it by 31 May with the following message:

Me in my @BalconyShirts @RealBread t-shirt: I want to win £150 of @BakeryBits! #realbreadcomp

Thanks to Campaign member Bakery Bits, our favourite will win a £150 voucher to spend on baking equipment and ingredients at their online artisan baking specialist site BakeryBits.co.uk

*Remember to stay safe, please people...

Ts & Cs

  • To be eligible for the prize, you need to post a message on Twitter containing a photo of you wearing an official Real Bread Campaign t-shirt from Balcony Shirts during May.
  • The text of the message must read Me in my @BalconyShirts @RealBread t-shirt: I want to win £150 of @BakeryBits! #realbreadcomp [a link to your photo will also appear in the message]
  • The winner will be picked from all entries received by noon on Friday 31 May 2013
  • The prize cannot be exchanged for cash
  • The judges' decision is final

WIN: Doves Farm Real Bread Campaign Bundle!

Campaign member Doves Farm has just launched the online exclusive Real Bread Campaign Bundle. 'It's your chance to try some of our ancient grain flours which bake incredible bread.'

The bundle includes einkorn flour (1kg), Heritage flour (1kg), wholegrain spelt flour (1kg), strong wholemeal bread flour (1.5kg), Original Dry Yeast (125g) and a professional dough scraper/cutter.

For your chance to WIN a Real Bread Campaign Bundle from Doves Farm, simply join the Real Bread Campaign by 17 May 2013 and we'll enter your name into our draw. FIND MEMBERSHIP DETAILS AND JOIN NOW!

Join the Campaign and get discounts on bread making classes

Whether or not you get involved in any of this, one of the best ways to support us during Real Bread Maker Week (and help yourself at the same time) is to JOIN THE REAL BREAD CAMPAIGN.

Benefits include:

  • discounts on bread making classes and courses around the UK (some worth more than the membership fee alone)
  • quarterly issues of our exclusive magazine True Loaf
  • access to our mutually-supportive network of hundreds of Real Bread lovers via The Real Baker-e online forum

Find out more and JOIN US TODAY here.

Offers etc.

Here are just some of the special offers people are making in support of Real Bread Maker Week.

  • Marriage's is offering 20% off own bread flours sold via their online shop during Real Bread Maker Week - use discount code REALBREAD13 at checkout.
  • Brook Bakery School is offering 1/3 off of every Real Bread class booked and paid for between 11 and 17 May.
  • Doves Farm has created The Real Bread Campaign Organic Bundle, available exclusively through their website, representing a 20% saving than if the flours, yeast and dough cutter are purchased separately.

For details of these and more offers, please visit our calendar.

National Mills Weekend

As the Real Bread Campaign champions all-natural local loaves, It's no coincidence that Real Bread Maker Week coincides with National Mills Weekend.

Whether you're baking at home for yourself, or baking Real Bread for other people in your local community, there are many benefits to seeking out a local traditional flour mill.  These include:

  • Getting delicious, nutritious, stoneground flour direct from the producer
  • Buying flour that has been produced by wind or water power - two genuinely sustainable and environmentally sound sources of energy
  • Supporting an enterprise that is owned and run by local people - and in some cases will be a co-operative and/or charitable institution
  • Helping to safeguard local heritage for future generations
  • A fun and educational family day out

National Mills Weekend is run by the Mills Section of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings.  Many of the mills that are open to visitors are members of the Traditional Cornmillers Guild, and will be running activities to help you get the best out of making Real Bread with traditionally-milled stoneground flour.

nationalmillsweekend.co.uk

Recipes

The week is an opportunity for home bakers to share their recipes and tips with others around the country.

To start you off, here are a couple:  basic Real Bread for your breadmaker by Campaign co-founder Andrew Whitley and some new adventures in sourdough.

In late April, we'll add recipes donated especially for Real Bread Maker Week by expert Real Bread bakers Paul Barker, Aidan Chapman, Emmanuel Hadjiandreou and Tom Herbert.

If you have your own recipe, please add it to the #realbread stream on Twitter or on the  Real Bread Campaign's Facebook wall.

Donate

Just can't think of a fundraising event or activity that you could help to organise but still want to support our charity? Well you can make a donation here.

Just Text Giving

Thanks to JustTextGiving, donating dough is a piece of cake!

Make a donation to us in seconds using your mobile.

e.g. to donate £10, simply text RBMW13 £10

to 70070

That’s it. Done.* 

As the Real Bread Campaign is part of the charity Sustain, it’ll appear on your bill as ‘Sustain: for good food’

Over 16s only. If you're lucky enough to have someone else pay your mobile bills for you, you must get his or her permission first.

* You can replace £10 in the message to donate £1, £2, £3, £4 or £5 instead.

justgiving.com

Donation not going through?

JustTextGiving advised us that the most common reasons for the text not going through are:

  1. Incorrect format. It's not case sensitive but the code needs to be correct, then followed by a space and then the amount.
  2. The donor's mobile phone network sees 70070 as a premium rate number (even though it's not) and blocks the message. I'm afraid that this is something that you'd need to resolve with your network, which is frustrating for you, us and JustTextGiving
  3. The donor tried to give an amount other than £1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10.

Join us

If you haven't joined us yet, then that's a good way to support our work and get a few benefits for yourself in return. Read more about Campaign membership here.